Posted by skheria
The issue of funding and sustainablity is an important one in ‘open’ projects. Each interviewee discussed how the resources necessary for their communities were funded and are being sustained.
Orianna and Salvatore (AOS) use the example of their project Roma Europa Fake Factory (REFF) to explain how they funded it. They also elaborate more generally on their ‘ecosystemic’ approach as well as the importance of networks and connections for them.
Adam similarly refers to the notion of ‘connected ecology’ while outlining how the FLOSS Manuals project has been funded and developed so far.
Eugenio’s project Sauti ya Wakulima, in Tanzania, started from a seed funding for projects about communicating climate change to rural farmers and came through an opportunity from his PhD studies. In this extract, he explains his approach to further development of this project and its sustainability.
Helen explains here how UpStage has been developed by a combination of grants from various sources as well as time and effort of several types of volunteers. She also provides her views on the open nature and financial sustainability of such experimental projects.
During the focus group, there was an intense discussion on the issue of ‘sustainability’ for the volunteers who contribute to collaborative production in communities, the economic and non-economic means of providing returns to the volunteers and the importance of reciprocity.
